Pilot Of Dana Flight Was On His Last Flight And Last Day In Nigeria Before Returning To His Country

Exclusive photo of Captain Waxtan while he was being brought out of the crashed Dana plane.

Captain Peter Waxtan, the American pilot who flew the ill-fated Dana plane on Sunday, was on his last flight and last day in Nigeria before returning to his country, friends and former colleagues said.

A former pilot for Miramar-based Spirit Airlines, Waxtan resumed work with Dana Air in March 2012, Oscar Wason, the airline’s director of operations said.

In all, Waxtan had flown Dana planes for 30 days and was off duty for 15 days, Pat Squires, a pilot who worked with him for 15 years told Sun Sentinel newspaper in the United States, adding that he was to return on Sunday (3 June), the same day the Dana flight 992 crashed in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, killing 152 people on board and at least 10 others on the ground.

Squire added that Waxtan was eager to return to the US and spend time with Lisa, his fiancée. The 55-year old pilot was to have arrived his Fort Lauderdale home on Wednesday, he said.

The American pilot worked at Spirit from 1997 to 2009 before his contract and that of Squires, his colleague, were terminated during union negotiations with the airline.

“It was a political thing,” Squires said, which occurred during union negotiations with the airline. Both men then flew for Falcon Air Express, a Miami-based charter service.

Last year they both departed Falcon. Waxtan later joined Dana Air, where he worked 30 days on and 15 off, Squires said.

“Sunday was supposed to be his last day in the rotation in Nigeria,” he said.